Australian bred geldings filled the trifecta in the Group III The Lion Rock Trophy (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday with victory going to Sebring 5YO Beauty Joy, who defeated Cheerful Days (Smart Missile) and My Sugar (Deep Field).
Trained by Tony Cruz and ridden by Zac Purton, Beauty Joy was a short priced favourite and duly won by more than a length taking his overall record to eight wins and two placings from 12 starts.
It was his second stakes success having won the Listed WATC JC Roberts Stakes as a 3YO in Australia racing as Talladega.
Cruz believes Beauty Joy is capable of ascending even higher through the grades after notching his fourth win of the season.
“Good horses can relax and they can change gears and they can quicken. He’s the type of horse who can do that. He won a Group 3 race today and I think he can be a Group 2 horse,” Cruz said.
“It (the race) started fast and then they started to pull it up on the turn and Beauty Joy started to throw his head up because they slowed it down. But Zac has got good hands, so he could still relax the horse and he could still finish strong. I was very happy with the ride and all credit to the jockey.”
Not offered at auction, Talladega ran in Australia for a big syndicate that included his breeders Impressive Racing that also raced his mother Impressive Jeuney, who won the Group III WA Oaks among her six wins.
He was sold privately to Hong Kong after winning his first four starts in Perth for Darren McAuliffe.
